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Chapter 1 Outline
Synopsis The central concepts of the story are introduced, Vivi is named the Knight of Sunflowers, and Allison and Vivi explore a "Wild Place" called the Glowing Forest, while enduring taunts from the abrasive Knight of Vectors, Linda. They end up having to find a way out of the Glowing Forest, fight off a powerful Shee, and in the end Allison inherits the title of Knight of Vectors from a mortally wounded Linda. Full Outline #Part One ##Flashback (A few months prior to the story) ###We open on Daisy's apartments in the Queens' Guard's barracks. Daisy is sleeping. Peaseblossom is relaxing with a coloring book. ###Heart comes to the door, frantic to reveal the news about the missing and almost certainly dead Knights that have been discovered. ###Daisy is shocked. Succession duels are never to the death. They theorize that something must be happening. ###Mention is made of a missing comrade named "George" who Daisy respected as a tactician more than Queen Tsukiko's current advisor, Alma. George is said to have disappeared years ago and made no contact since. ###Heart mentions that a message arrived that, while they can't prove it, was almost certainly from George. Daisy agrees that the context around the message is Classic George. The message is gloomy and seems to predict disaster forthcoming, and urges them to "name their successors," and choose them wisely. ###Daisy acts with exagerrated contempt of George's melodrama, but sighs and takes her advice, telling Peaseblossom that she is naming her neice Vivi as her successor. Peaseblossom accepts this solemnly and asks for Daisy to reassure her that nothing's going to happen to her. ##The First Morning ###Open on Allison's room. Allison wakes up and goes to the Goodall Manor to pick up Vivi so they can walk to class together. ###When Vivi answers the door, she's still in her pajamas, and is crying. She's just gotten word that her Aunt Daisy was killed in action. ###Allison comforts Vivi, and they reminisce about Daisy. Allison, being really nerdy about stuff regarding the Knights, nerds out over stories about the legendary "Knight of Sunflowers" (Daisy), but makes several mentions of her own personal hero and one of Daisy's comrades, the Knight of Mirrors . ###The two are interrupted by Peaseblossom who announces that Vivi has inherited the title of Knight of Sunflowers from Daisy. ###Before Pea can tell Vivi any more about her role, Allison realizes she has to get to class. She's very frustrated because this was a chance to see a Knight's training first hand, but she has to get to school or her mom, who is one of their teachers, will go apopleptic. She says her goodbyes regretfully and promises she'll come by later and let Vivi cry on her shoulder some more about her Aunt. ##The Crossing ###A few weeks have passed. Allison is walking Vivi back from class. They discuss Vivi's training and how it's going. ###Vivi announces that she has a "Match" lined up with the Knight of Vectors. Turns out what she means is that she's been challenged for a Succession Duel . Pea is uncomfortable about this because it seems too soon for Vivi to be participating in a match like that, but acknowledges that being Knighted in the middle of a Succession was bad luck all around and there's not much chance of her winning anyway. ###They reach Vivi's house, and Ally prepares to go home, somewhat reluctantly. Their body language mirrors that of a couple who have just come back from a date and are wrestling with themselves over whether to go in for the kiss. They are interrupted by several flashes and an explosion. ###Vivi transforms, then rushes off to investigate, telling Allison to get home and stay safe. ###Allison tries very hard to listen, but can't help herself, and goes to see what's happening. ###She comes in on the tail end of Vivi fighting off several sul caileachs ''in the middle of a street bordering a wooded area. Allison cries out in celebration of Vivi's victory, but Vivi looks up, annoyed that Allison came, putting herself in danger. Allison says she's worrying too much, she knew Vivi could handle it and that she didn't call attention to herself until after they were all already beaten. Then she gets attacked by a several that she had not yet seen. ###Vivi dispatches the ''sul caileachs that are attacking Allison, but one of them comes to attack Allison while Vivi's taking care of the other. Allison mimics one of Vivi's moves and pulls off a lesser form of one of her lasers. ###A short discussion is had where Allison explains that she's a Wild Talent, and the concept is described to the reader (though Vivi is already familiar with it) is had. Allison explains that while she can mimic other people's magic, hers is always a lot weaker than when it comes from a real practitioner, and it works best when she is close to the other person both physically and emotionally. ###They determine that the Shee are all vanquished, and Vivi tries to look for how they're getting into the City. Allison agrees to help, and they discover a Crossing . Vivi tells Allison to go home, while she goes in and tries to close the Crossing. Allison is worried about Vivi and says as much, but Vivi says it's her duty as a Knight, and she'll have Peaseblossom with her. Allison still looks worried, but Vivi makes her promise to go home, for real this time--knowing full well that if she gets less than a Promise, Allison will talk herself into following after her. ###Allison sighs and agrees. After Vivi leaves, she still wrestles with herself and almost follows fater her, but decides she can't break her promise. She turns to go home. ###The next day she hasn't heard from Vivi, and Vivi doesn't come to class. She tries texting her, but gets no response. She goes back to the place where the Crossing was, and sees that it's still open. She realizes that Vivi must not have been able to close it, and might not have come back yet at all. ###Linda, already transformed into the Knight of Vectors , shows up, sees Allison, and decides Vivi isn't good enough to handle the situation. She goes in to steal Vivi's glory, being a general jerk the whole way, and mocking Allison's concern. ###Allison is pissed off. She almost goes back home, before she realizes that her promise had only been to go home, not actually to stay away from the Crossing. So actually she already fulfilled it. Having settled in her own mind that her promise is fulfilled, she runs home, grabs an old dueling sword off the wall, straps it to her hip, and then comes back to the Crossing, taking a deep breath, and jumping in. #Part Two ##The Glowing Forest ### The Crossing dumps Allison unceremoniously onto the ground. She gets up and starts to find her bearings, finding herself in forest with an opaque canopy that blots out the sky and the sun, but the place is lit by bioluminescent animals and plants. She comes to think of the place as the Glowing Forest.